Editor's Note

The Charge

"You're feeling like Indiana Jones?" "Yeah,
exactly."

Opening Statement

If you watch Cities of the Underworld, you'll come to the conclusion
that every city has a sewer that used to be a river. While most of us don't
think about that much, host Don Wildman goes into the sewers, not to mention
caves, tunnels, and bunkers, to find out their stories.

Facts of the Case

"We're peeling back the layers of time" once again for Cities of
the Underworld: Season 2, which contains 11 episodes on four discs:

Disc One • "A-Bomb Underground": Don tours
a "superbunker" at Hiroshima with a woman who worked as a phone
operator. He also visits Japan's modern earthquake and flood protection
facilities and explores secret passages in a ninja stronghold.

• "Hitler's Last Secret": In Prague, Don explores a
quarry that might have held Hitler's "trump card" and tours an
underground weapons factory. He also finds an old city underneath modern Prague
that was used by the Czech underground in World War II.

• "Maya Underground": In Belize, Don checks out sites
that illuminate the Mayan practices of bloodletting and sacrifice, and seeks
clues about the decline of the Mayan civilization.

• "Prophecies from Below": In Israel, Don finds
remnants of the Massacre of the Innocents, investigates ancient battles in
cisterns and underground water tunnels, visits a lost city, and finds a secret
bullet factory.

• "Secret Soviet Bases": In Ukraine, Don visits a
"massive defensive infrastracture" that the Soviets blew up
themselves—with men inside—to keep it from the Nazis, bunkers from
the battle of Kiev, a nuclear sub base, and a bomb shelter for Soviet VIPs.

Disc Three • "Stalin's Secret Lair": Josef
Stalin's hiding places for military control centers and bomb shelters include an
apartment block, a stadium, and the Moscow metro. Don also visits the foundation
of an uncompleted Soviet showpiece.

• "Underground Apocalypse": Don gets a rare tour of the
Dome of the Rock and Mohammed's cave underneath. He also investigates sites
associated with the Crusades, John the Baptist, and Armageddon.

• "Washington, D.C.: Seat of Power": Don descends into
the city's heavily guarded sewers. He also visits Congress' once-secret bunker,
the magazine at Fort McHenry, and a West Virginia cave that supplied the
Confederacy with gunpowder.

Disc Four • "Viking Underground": In
Dublin, Don finds an underground river where Vikings once sailed. He also
uncovers some long-lost hiding places, the remnants of a foundling hospital, and
well-preserved mummies.

• "Vietnam": Don goes into Viet Cong tunnels that went
from death traps for Army "tunnel rats" to training grounds for
soldiers, visits a village that went underground to escape bombings, and sees
the world's largest underground river.

The Evidence

One underground chamber looks pretty much like the next. Fortunately,
Cities of the Underworld isn't just about the chambers. It's more about
World War II and its effects on the people of Hiroshima or Prague, for
example.

"That's the human factor. Brings it home," host Don Wildman even
says at one point.

Wildman often makes obvious points just to make sure you get it, but he's an
engaging tour guide, even when the fun of watching someone wander through murky
sewers wears off. While the series does include CGI, illustrations, and vintage
clips, Wildman does a good job of painting a historic scene with words and maybe
a couple of objects found in tunnels. He's usually energetic and unflappable,
although he does appear a bit claustrophobic—not to mention wary of the
local underground fauna—in tunnels barely big enough for him to crawl
through in Vietnam.

The transfer's okay, albeit with some halos. The music that's constantly
under the dialogue can be too loud at times, but the dialogue comes through.

The Season Two volume doesn't contain any extras. That's regrettable because
the outtakes on Season One helped viewers get to know the hosts better.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

C'mon. Did Don actually find any secrets in the "New York Secret
Societies" episode? It was interesting, true, but not as mysterious as
billed.

Cities of the Underworld is entertaining, but watching someone prowl
around caves and basements over and over again isn't a made-for-powerwatching
experience, since it can get repetitive.

Closing Statement

I'm no urban spelunker. I won't be getting my local sewer schematics and
going down for a tour anytime soon. However, I enjoyed watching someone else do
it. While some things, like the story of the Greenbriar, were old hat, each
episode contained a few new bits of information, and Don Wildman did a good job
of making viewers feel what the original tunnel crawlers must have felt.

The Verdict

Not guilty. I've got to go now; I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic from
powerwatching three episodes in a row.